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Colorado high court changes rules for confessions, proof of crime not needed

By Jessica FenderThe Denver Post

Posted:
01/14/2013 06:33:21 PM MST

Updated:
01/14/2013 11:45:12 PM MST

To use a confession as evidence against a defendant, prosecutors will now have to prove that the confession is reliable — not that the crime actually happened.

The state Supreme Court on Monday overturned a century-old rule governing how and when confessions can be used at trial in a 5-2 decision that also overturned the conviction of a man convicted of sexually abusing his 2½-year-old daughter.

The old rule for admitting confessions — called the "corpus delicti" rule — required prosecutors to put on evidence other than a defendant's out-of-court statement that showed he or she committed the crime. The intent was to ensure false or coerced confessions alone would not lead to a conviction.

But in the last 100-plus years, defendants have gained a number of protections — such as Miranda Rights — that the Court said make the old rule obsolete.

Prosecutors will instead have to show that the confession "is trustworthy or reliable."

Justices Nathan Coats and Allison Eid dissented, arguing in part that the high court should uphold the conviction of Jason LaRosa on charges of sexual assault of a child and aggravated incest.

LaRosa told his wife, mother, pastor and finally authorities in Douglas County that he'd performed oral sex on his 2½ -year-old daughter in a shower at a Florida swim facility.

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The girl was too young to testify. The evidence was unrecoverable. All prosecutors had at trial was his confession and the fact that he had checked into the swim facility on the day in question.

Jurors found him guilty, but an appeals court overturned the conviction because there was no evidence showing the crime actually happened

In the majority decision, Chief Justice Michael Bender points out that LaRosa's case underscores the problems with the corpus delicti rule but says it would be unconstitutional to retroactively apply the new rule and keep LaRosa in prison.

"The (old) rule may operate to reward defendants who target young or mentally infirm victims who are unable to testify and (those who) commit crimes that do not result in tangible injuries," Bender wrote.

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